Up Lifting: These eye creams combat those much-hated eye bags

While everyone knows that a proper night’s sleep is the most effective and natural way to combat baggy and inflamed eyelids, clocking in a nightly eight-hour repose is a challenge with Hong Kong’s frenetic pace of life, to say the least. Fortunately, many of the world’s leading beauty brands have turned their collective focus on helping fight this dermatalogical distress with a series of uplifting eye creams and masks.

First up is Chanel, that most beloved of French cosmetics companies, with its Le Lift Sérum. Using the brand’s signature PolyFractioning technology, it has extracted quintessential components of alfalfa and black peppermint to create a botanical anti-ageing shield, leaving your skin divinely smooth.

Eye Creams - Chanel's Le Lift Serum — Chanel’s Le Lift Serum

Fellow Parisian marque Dior, meanwhile, has focussed its attention on reducing micro-inflammations that cause puffy skin via its La Crème, a worthy addition to the Dior Prestige range. Drawing on the regenerative powers of its hero ingredient, the Rose de Granville, it combats ageing by stimulating regeneration and resistance at the cellular level.

Eye Creams - Dior Prestige La Crème — Dior Prestige La Crème

For its part, Italian beauty brand Giorgio Armani Beauty has refurbished its skincare line in time for the cooler, harsher autumn season with its Crema Nera Supreme Reviving Light Cream. Reported to provide up to 24 hours of lasting moisture, it is also packed to the brim with anti-ageing components.

Eye Creams - Crema Nera Supreme Reviving Light Cream by Giorgio Armani Beauty — Crema Nera Supreme Reviving Light Cream by Giorgio Armani Beauty

Clearly unwilling to be left behind, Swiss-headquartered La Prairie has launched not one but two new eye creams to help deter signs of ageing around the eyes – Skin Caviar Eye Lift and Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Cream. Together, this dynamic duo apparently combats the effects of gravity with caviar science, leaving the ocular area revived, raised and redefined.

Eye Creams - La Prairie Skin Caviar Eye Lift and Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Cream — La Prairie Skin Caviar Eye Lift and Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Cream

Lip art: Four new lip shades to brighten the fall-winter season

With the colder months soon set to return (thankfully!), it’s time to sport bold, bright lips that go oh-so-well with fall-winter ensembles. Reading our minds only too well, haute beauty brands have launched a wide array of sensational lip colours to brighten our pretty puckers. So, pout and about with these lush lipsticks…

Ensuring it looks its very best for its 25th anniversary, French cosmetics brand NARS has created The Iconic Lipstick Collection. Paying homage to its very earliest days, the collection reintroduces the 12 original lipstick shades that initially launched with the brand, but this time all packaged in a special red matt casing.

For its part, Givenchy has chosen a more tinted approach to lavishing your lips with its Encre Interdite line. The new water-based formula is said to be smudge-proof, while offering up to six hours of hydration.

Encouraging women to venture boldly into decidedly vibrant night-time vibes is YSL, with its all-new Vernis À Lèveres Water Stain collection. Enriched with a 40-percent water formula and mango scent, this is colouring of your lips will confidently carry long into the evening.

Meanwhile, Burberry has introduced a long-lasting liquid lip collection of its own – the Kisses Lip Lacquer – which offers 12 different shades of bold long-lasting colours, all infused with hyaluronic acid and ginger root extract.

Foundation Care: Our favourite three foundations to mask Autumn dryness

Perhaps the most essential beauty product of all – foundation – is the miracle liquid that most ladies need to even out their skin tones, mask blemishes and top off a natural look. With the options of beauty products seemingly never-ending, it can be difficult to narrow down which product is the right fit for you and your skin, but don’t fret – here at Gafencu we’ve carefully selected our three favourite foundations of the season, which provide 24-hour coverage, SPF protection and more!

With some help from natural honey extracts, Swiss-based Valmont is looking to make skin silky this season with its Teint Majestueux foundation. Functioning almost like a second skin, this supersmooth make-up restores brightness to the skin and delivers a wholly natural look.

Taking a more golden approach to skincare is Guerlain, the French cosmetics marque, with its new Parure Gold – Gold Radiance Foundation. Infused with 24K gold, the foundation promises to add a little light, while also offering SPF 30-PA+++ protection.

The Ultra Le Teint Flawless Finish Foundation from Chanel is now said to be the marque’s go-to product for flawless and long-wear foundation. With a 24-hour matte finish guaranteed, it’s also instilled with natural glycerin, leaving the skin soft and supple throughout the day

Related: Get the Look: The Autumn Almaknack

Taking the Fall: Own the coming season with these autumn beauty products

Even as we bid a fond farewell to the fading weeks of summer, autumn is surely waiting in the wings, with its briefer days and cooler temperatures necessitating a different beauty regime. It is, indeed, time to trade in those light summertime creams in favour of weightier, more rejuvenating treatments. Fortunately, there is no shortage of skincare brands only too willing to help you make the required transformation.

With a promise to replenish and revive come the reformulated Intensive Fortifying Emulsion and Intensive Fortifying Cream from Clé de Peau Beauté. Designed to work in harmony, the duo have been formulated for night-time usage, allowing them to nocturnally activate the epidermis’ natural defences, ensuring you wake up with smoother and healthier-looking skin.

Clé de Peau Beauté Intensive Fortifying Cream and Intensive Fortifying Emulsion

Also focussing its attention on dispelling the telltale signs of ageing is Guerlain, with oily and multi-problem complexions particularly in its sights. Using only natural ingredients, the brand’s new Abeille Royale Mattifying Day Cream boosts the skin’s self-regeneration capacity, allowing for a more comprehensive takedown of the visible signs of wrinkles.

Guerlain Abeille Royale Mattifying Day Cream

Meanwhile, the fine folks over at Helena Rubinstein have ventured into decidedly organic territory with the Powercell Skinmunity range, which boasts a high native vegetal cell content. The real miracle products in this range are the Powercell Skinmunity The Serum, with its smoothening properties, and the Powercell Skinmunity The Emulsion, with its hydrating qualities.

Helena Rubinstein Powercell Skinmunity The Serum and Powercell Skinmunity The Emulsion

Last – but certainly not least – is Japan’s Shiseido, with its all-new Legendary Enmei Ultimate Luminance Serum, the crowning glory of its Future Solution LX collection. Incorporating both enmei herbs and green treasured silk, the serum derives its raw regenerative power from nature and smoothly delivers this onto the skin’s defence system, helping to restore your youthful tones and banish wrinkles.

Shiseido Legendary Enmei Ultimate Luminance Serum

Budding Romance With Bulgari Rose Goldea Blossom Delight

Following the success of the iconic Rose Goldea perfume that was launched in 2016, Bulgari has again paid a knowing homage to that most regal of flowers – rose – with its newly-unveiled Bulgari Rose Goldea Blossom Delight.

Centred around the ever-romantic rose, the new aroma is as layered as the petals of the eponymous flower that it emulates. Inspired by the tender rosebud on the verge of bloom, the scent conjures the exact moment when the bud begins to flourish. With signature complexity, Bulgari’s Master Perfumer Alberto Morillas deftly recreates both the delicacy of the blossoming buds and the allure of the flowers in full bloom. So the top notes open with a fruity fragrance creating an eager anticipation for the heart notes which are dominantly rosy, while the finish is unabashedly musky and sensual.

This perfume, then, is for a woman who is spontaneous and bold in equal measure. While the original Rose Goldea fragrance was all about innocent femininity, the Bulgari Rose Goldea Blossom Delight is surely meant for the adventuress at heart, giving her confidence as she gets ready to rule the world, her head held high.

Get the Look: The Autumn Almaknack

Get the Look

In the darkest times, it’s still possible to shine and let all around see your inner light. Start with the lightweight Airbrush Flawless Foundation from Charlotte Tilbury, then enhance your cheekbones with Lancôme‘s Blush Subtil. Moving up to the eye region, apply Giorgio Armani Beauty’s Eyes to Kill Designer Eyeliner for an ultra-slim effect, then reach for the High-Pigment Longwear Eyeliner from NARS for a smokey touch below the eyes. Focussing on the lashes, opt for the Climax Mascara, again courtesy of NARS, before treating your eyes to a little shine from Givenchy’s Prismissime – Nine-colour eyeshadow palette. Next, add a dab of Tom Ford’s Fiber Brow Gel to the brows. Give a shine to your lips courtesy of Hourglass’ Unreal High Shine Volumizing Lip Gloss and, finally, enhance your overall glow with Guerlain’s new Parure Gold Mist.

Hairs and Graces: Hair-care products for your lovely locks

Keeping in mind how much hot summer days can mess with your tresses, a number of hair-care specialist brands have launched a wide array of hair-care products to keep those locks lovely 24 / 7. We’ve narrowed it down to our three most favourite brands.

First up is Paris-based Sisley which has released Hair Rituel, a protective fluid said to protect much-loved locks from the multi-pronged effects of the sun, the sea and swimming pool chlorine.

While Sisley’s products protect the hair by day, another Parisian hair-care brand –Keratase‘s Nutritive 8H Magic Night Serum – looks to nourish it by night, thanks to its Vitamin B complex and iris root infusions.

Meanwhile award-winning British brand Tabitha James Kraan‘s luxury-edition hair moisturisers – which are available in two fragrances, Amber Rose and Golden Citrus – keep your hair hydrated even in the driest of summer days. It not only soothes an irritated scalp but also enhances hair colour and natural shine.

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

Beauty bonanza as DFS’ First Class Beauty campaign takes off

The sixth edition of DFS Group’s annual First Class Beauty campaign kicked off in true style at T Galleria Beauty by DFS, Causeway Bay.

Fashionistas, style icons and beauty queens thronged to the venue to explore the latest assortment of makeup, skincare and fragrances from over 40 premium brands. The venue was transformed into a veritable “beauty disco” as Hong Kong’s crème de la crème indulged in such beauty-themed entertainment as glitter hairstyling and eye makeup application. Some also tried their hand at the beauty workshop where guests were taught how to make their own personalised makeup and skincare kits. Check out the exclusive footage from the event.

Aroma Therapy: Four new perfumes for this season

With summer well and truly on us, the haute perfumers have launched a range of new perfumes this season, of which we have shortlisted four new aromas you just can’t do without…

Green has long been synonymous with freshness, so luxury label Gucci naturally gravitated towards this particular hue for packaging for its new limited-edition Gucci Flora Emerald Gardenia fragrance. The green colour is not only apt for its container, but is also emblematic of its carefully-curated contents, all ripe with fruity and floral notes, layered on a soft woody base.

Meanwhile, Giorgio Armani has expanded its Gioia perfume collection with the addition of LIGHT di Gioia, an add-on aroma that ably encapsulates the citrusy and musky notes of nature.

For its part, YSL Beauté has chosen to infuse the delicate floral notes of violet into its latest offering, Grain de Poudre. It is, however, the subtle hints of subsidiary sage, coriander and pepper that make its aroma quite so complex and timeless.

The parfumiers at Van Cleef & Arpels, too, have looked to add another classic fragrance – Sandalwood – to their Collection Extraordinaire. As its name suggests, this is one aroma that harnesses the ageless appeal of sandalwood, enhanced with a hint of mandarin and fig milk.

Get the Look: Rain or shine, make sure you’re fine

Get the Look

As Hong Kong ladies know only too well, the city’s ever-changeable weather is no friend to long-lasting make-up. So, how then to sport a waterproof look, one capable of sustaining through rain or hail? Well, you could start with YSL’s All Hours Cushion Foundation to create an even base, then add a dab of Clarins’ Bronzing Compact for a radiant glow. For the eyes, opt for Emotionproof Liner and Emotionproof Mascara from Tom Ford for an au naturel look or choose Chanel’s Stylo Yeux Waterproof for a smoky impression.

Enhance the eyebrows with Diorshow Pump ‘N’ Brow and add colour to your eyelids with Palette 3 Couleurs Tri(O)Blique, both from Dior. Should you prefer a more liquid look, try Eye Tint from Giorgio Armani, before signing off with a dash of pink on the lips, courtesy of YSL’s Vernis À Lèvres Water Stain.